Activities for Toddler, 19-24 Months

Pathways.org encourages the following activities to help your child continue to meet developmental milestones.

19-24 Months

Motor Games and Activities

Encourage baby to kick a ball on the ground. Gradually build up to rolling ball so baby can kick it while in motion.

Put on some silly songs with lyrics that give listeners instructions like “The Hokey Pokey”. Dance with baby while following song directions.

Let baby play with a musical instrument if you have access to one. For a drum, baby can use wooden spoon & cardboard box. Babies love hearing sounds they make by beating a drum or playing notes on a piano.

Roll a large bouncy ball back and forth between you and your toddler

Use mini-traffic cones to create a zigzag path to walk through with your toddler

As your toddler gets older, introduce songs like “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” to help with coordination

Sensory Games and Activities

Blow bubbles for baby. Let baby touch them, watch them soar through sky and pop when they land.

Wrap a table in plastic and spray shaving cream. Encourage baby to explore the shaving cream with hands, brushes, spatulas or plastic spoons.

Fill up a bucket with blocks of different sizes, textures, and colors. Ensure that none are small enough to be swallowed if baby decides to explore them with their mouth. Allow baby to explore the blocks with all of their senses.

Communication Games and Activities

Go through family photos with baby and encourage them to point out familiar family members.

Use a play telephone to practice different ways to say hello or goodbye, such as bye, bye-bye, goodbye, etc.

Sing nursery rhymes with actions like “Itsy-Bitsy-Spider” and “Patty Cake”.

As you read to your toddler, encourage them to point out familiar objects in the illustrations.

Go on a nature walk in a park or even in your backyard and point out all of the animals and interesting plants you see.

This is a great age for encouraging baby to practice the meanings of “in” and “out”. Ask baby to put their toys in a bucket and take them out again.

Also provided by Pathways.org are a number of reminders as to where your child should be at this stage of life.

Spit It Out

Baby is having a language explosion! Don’t worry if not everyone can understand your little one. You are around them every day so you know what sounds or words they mispronounce. You may be tempted to fill in words they are trying to say or complete their sentences, but try not to rush them as they learn to master new words.

Personality All Their Own

Your child’s likes and dislikes are becoming more obvious during playtime. They probably like to stack blocks and knock them down, scribble, and put things in containers. All of these are great activities to learn new fine motor skills.